Butler coach Brad Stevens talks with his players in the first half of a loss to Marquette during the third round of the NCAA tournament on March 23 at Rupp Arena. / Jamie Rhodes, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Lopresti, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Lopresti, USA TODAY Sports

INDIANAPOLIS â?? Brad Stevens sat in his office Friday afternoon, waiting for his family, not a packed bag or California real estate guide in sight. He didn't look like a guy with one foot out the door to Los Angeles.

He would not address reports that UCLA has been in a full-court press to get him to leave Butler. Says he won't. But the swirl around him has become as much a part of spring as the vernal equinox.

"I think this is an interesting time," he said. "Instead of allowing people to evaluate what's best for them, it becomes almost like this game that people want to talk about."

The latest reports have him staying at Butler. Comment? Nope.

"It's somewhere between comedy, and ... frustrating. But I know what the truth is. One of the reasons I don't comment on that stuff is because there's so much speculation in general, that it can be taken a different way, it can be ramped up a different way. It's just best to do your job as well as you can and that's where I am. All week I've been here, doing my job as well as I could."

He had tweeted out the following on Friday:

"Love walking thru Hinkle (Fieldhouse) in the morning. ... Anxious to get started on our spring workouts next week."

But that didn't stop the questions and wondering at large.

"I tweeted this morning for a reason," he said. "I thought it was pretty tell-tale, but I guess it wasn't."

The side effect of success at a place such as Butler is to constantly have your name bandied about at a place such as UCLA. Happens with VCU's Shaka Smart, too. Once happened to Gonzaga's Mark Few, but people have apparently given up after 14 years.

It is a sign of the change in modern basketball that coaches such as Stevens and Few and Smart do not leap at the first fancy offer. They have all turned down heavyweight programs; a testament to the fact the so-called mid-majors can come up with respectably fat packages, too. Stevens' current contract runs to 2022.

Also that it is possible for them to go a long way in March. Stevens and Smart have the Final Four trips to prove it.

And one other thing: It can be tough out there for coaches, between the social media and the talk shows and the AAU zealots and the parents and the demands and the ridiculously inflated and unrealistic expectations.

Maybe they know when they have it pretty good. That doesn't mean they'll stay forever. There is always someone with more to offer. It does mean there is no need for haste.

So Brad Stevens did not seem like a 36-year-old man in a hurry Friday afternoon.

"Sometimes people all assume what is best for someone else," he said. "There's a reason Mark Few has been really successful. He understands where he is, understands what he likes to do, understands how he best operates. He has found a place that allows him to be himself.

"At the end of the day, one of the best things I've learned is how my family views me, or how I interact with my friends, or how all the important things in life that happen, whether I was in the Final Four or didn't make the tournament, it didn't matter. None of the affected me. You realize that your validation is not coming from that. If it does come from that, you've got issues."

It was about then his family came through the office door. The two kids and wife Tracy. They were headed out for a weekend, he said.